This week’s tour is at the Colorado shop of Ray “Dataman” Merrell.The home and shop are dome shaped, which makes for interesting storage, lighting and insulation considerations. Ray is very inventive, with most of his tools and assembly tables built on mobile bases for optimum configurations for the job at hand.

Here Deb takes a read on the great lighting provided by the windows and a skylight in the 14 foot ceiling.

We both liked the under-saw storage unit, based on the use of restaurant bus-trays. There is in-floor dust collection tubing and a novel blast gate configuration of Ray’s construction.

In the next photo Deb adds points to Ray’s tally for having fire extinguishers handy. The shelving unit is filled with hand tools, and the shelfs are labeled for ease of use.

JP – Yes my shop was featured in the American Woodworking #132 November 2007.They featured my workshop on page 80 as well as my blast gate invention on page 53.

David – The structure is thin shell concrete covered with a foam insulation so it has an R value equivalent to an R65 or better and it goes from below grade covering the entire structure without a break. Being a curved dome shape it is one of the strongest structures available. Interestingly we built it all from the inside.They resist hurricanes, tornados and even earth quakes. Add Fire and termite proof and it’s pretty indestructible! Even bullets can’t penetrate it. If anyone is interested they can pursue our web site on how we build it etc at www.mountainviewdome.com